Inverted-third-rail electric-railway system



No. 625,283. Patented May l6, I899. L. E. WALKINS.

INVERTED THIRD RAIL ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application filed Jan. 21, 1899.)

2 She etsSheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 625,283. Patented May l6,-l899.- L E. WALKINS.

INVERTED THIRD BAIL ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application mea Jan. 21, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

[No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS EJIVALKINS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I IALF TO GEORGE 1W1. JEWETT, OF GLENVILLE, MARYLAND.

lNVERTED-THlRD-RAIL ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,283, dated May 16, 1899.

Application filed January 21, 1899- Seria1No.702,9 l0. (N0 model.)

T0 (0 whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS E. XVALKINS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Springfield,in the county of Hampden an d State of Massach usetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inverted-Third-Rail Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. 7

The object of this invention for third-rail electric railways is to improve the construction and mode of mounting the continuous longitudinal third-rail conductor whereby it becomes perfectly safe, constituting under no circumstances a factor of danger to persons or living creatures who may be on the railway, and whereby the third rail is guarded against the weather and the accumulation of snow, ice, or dirt or other foreign substances thereon.

The invention also relates to a new and improved form of trolley or depending shoe susceptible of advantageous use in conjunction with the third rail arranged as herein indicated.

The invention consists in equipments for a third-rail electric-railway system having forms and constructions as hereinafter particularly described, and as set forth in the claims.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the railway, showing several bracket-supports for the inverted third rail. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the inverted third rail and the supporting and protecting appliances therefor. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the same as seen at the inner side. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the truck, showing an upwardly-bearing trolley combined thereon. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional elevation of the trolley and part of the truck in which it is mounted and showing its operative connection with the inverted third rail. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the trolley and a portion of the support therefor.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A represents the usual track-rails of the railway mounted on the ties a, and B represents the third-rail construc- 0 tion and equipment.

Orepresents a portion of the motor-car,

and D the trolley, having the depending and underrunning shoe.

The third rail proper, which is indicated by b, is here shown as located at the side of the railwayashort distance outside of one of the trackrails A. These third rails are made in suitable lengths, having each the neck 0 and flanges d d, the tread portion being lowermost. I

G G represent a series of brackets, each being shown as having an angular base comprising a horizontal member 8 and the rightangle vertical member f, whereby to be fit-. ted on and receive stable support at the end of a tie, being bolted thereto, and each bracket comprises a riser having the bend 7?. extended toward the adjacent track-rail and having in the under side of such transversely-extended part h a socket or seat 0, in which is fitted and anchored the material which directly constitutes the support in which the neck and flanges of the inverted third rail are embedded, said insulating material being indicated by the letters 71 and j, although the material 2' need not necessarily be insulating material so long as there is ample insulation between the rails and the bracket, which is deemed to be advisable. The third rail is so located between the inner and outer edges of the material 2' and j that the portions of the latter extended beyond the exposed tread b of the third rail serve as a guard or protector against the rail being contacted upon by the feet of persons or animals. The inner edge of the bracket is constructed with a dovetail or other formed seat is, in which engages the insulating guard or fender m, which serves to prevent any contact, possibly being made between the tread of the third rail and the bracket, such insulating material being as wide or slightlywider than the riser g. Abracket is suitablyribbed or provided with strengthening-webs, Whereby it ably sustains the weight of the third rail supported between any two or more thereof, and also the weight of the material, which extends longitudinally along at the top of the said third rail. In conjunction with this inverted,insulated, guarded,and protected third rail supported above the level of the road bed, rising, preferably, considerably above the top of the track-rails and having an unobstructed space beneath and between it and the road-bed, all as seen in Fig. 5, I employ advantageously a trolley or shoe suitably extended from its place of support at a lower part of the car or its truck, such as I will now describe, although other forms of trolleys may be employed in conjunction with the inverted third rail and even although this form of trolley is susceptible of uses in other situations than that here described and shown.

The car or its truck has a suitable rod or supporting-bar 10, on which the outwardly and transversely extended supporting-arm for the shoe D is mounted for a swinging movement vertically.

Above the trolley-supporting arm 12 is the bracket 13, mounted on the sill or other suitable part of the truck-frame, the same also being outwardly extended, and it is provided at its extremity with the recess or aperture 14, through which the rod 15 is extended, the lower end of said rod being articulated for a supporting connection with the shoe-su pporting arm, as seen at 16, while its extremity upwardly extended above the bracket 13 has the shoulder 19, between which and the bracket is the spring 18, normally under such degree of compression as to insure the yielding upward bearing of the shoe D against the under side of the third rail. 7

I may divide the third rail, mounted substantially as described, into two continuous sections longitudinally extending and sidewise arranged, insulating the one from the a other, whereby to utilize them for double feedcurrents, or the one for feed and the other for the return current employed in electric propulsion of railway cars or vehicles, or I may employ the one section or the other as electric conductors for other purposes in addition to a feed-current for the propulsion of a motor-car, as aforesaid.

I While I prefer, as shown, ordinarily to have the shoe in bearing on the under side of the third rail supported as described, it is nevertheless practicable to have the shoe or collector in bearing on the inner or outer exposed edge portions of the third rail by forms of trolleys or collector-shoes which I have devised.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an electric third-rail system, a series of brackets having their bases securely confined at the road-bed and having risers and transversely-extended portions with sockets or seats in their up lensides, longitudinallyextending layers or bars of insulating material sustained in the seats of said brackets, and the inverted third rails having portions of their bulk embedded and supported in and by the insulating material withits lower portion exposed, substantially as described.

2. In a third-rail electric-railway system, the inverted third rails, the brackets comprising risers and transversely-extended portions at their tops, beneath which the inverted rails are sustained, insulating material between the rails and said brackets, and an insulating-guard m at the side of the riser toward the rail, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination with the truck-frame of an electric-railway car comprising the sill and the horizontal bar therebelow, of an arm connected for a rocking motion on said bar, and extended outwardly therefrom and carrying at its extremity a shoe or collector, a bracket supported on the sill above said arm and having an aperture, a rod secured to the arm and extending upwardly through the I apertured bracket, and provided at its upper end with an elevating-spring, substantially as described.

Signed by me,at Springfield,Massachusetts, this 19th day of December, 1898.

v LOUIS E. WALKINS. IVitnesses:

WM. S. BELLows, M. A. CAMPBELL. 

